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Recent Crisis (recent + crisis)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting60%
Humanities and Social Sciences40%

Selected Abstracts

Review of Policies and Guidelines on Infant Feeding in Emergencies: Common Ground and Gaps

DISASTERS, Issue 2 2001
Andrew Seal
Recent crises in regions where exclusive breastfeeding is not the norm have highlighted the importance of effective policies and guidelines on infant feeding in emergencies. In 1993, UNICEF compiled a collection of policy and guideline documents relating to the feeding of infants in emergency situations. In June 2000 Save the Children, UK, UNICEF and the Institute of Child Health undertook a review of those documents, updating the list and identifying the common ground that exists among the different policies. The review also analysed the consistency of the policy framework, and highlighted important areas where guidelines are missing or unclear. This article is an attempt to share more widely the main issues arising from this review. The key conclusions were that, in general, there is consensus on what constitutes best practice in infant feeding, however, the lack of clarity in the respective responsibilities of key UN agencies (in particular UNICEF, UNHCR and WFP) over issues relating to co-ordination of activities which affect infant-feeding interventions constrains the implementation of systems to support best practice. Furthermore, the weak evidence base on effective and appropriate intervention strategies for supporting optimal infant feeding in emergencies means that there is poor understanding of the practical tasks needed to support mothers and minimise infant morbidity and mortality. We, therefore, have two key recommendations: first that the operational UN agencies, primarily UNICEF, examine the options for improving co-ordination on a range of activities to uphold best practice of infant feeding in emergencies; second, that urgent attention be given to developing and supporting operational research on the promotion of optimal infant-feeding interventions. [source]

Operational Risk Measurement in Banking Institutions and Investment Firms: New European Evidences

FINANCIAL MARKETS, INSTITUTIONS & INSTRUMENTS, Issue 4 2008
Enrique Bonsón
The banking/investment sector must deal with a new variable, Operational Risk, for explaining various recent crises and bankruptcies. Operational Risk, which can be defined briefly as the risk generated by possible failures of a entity's Information Systems (IS), must be measured, covered, mitigated and managed by applying a series of methodologies, each of which assumes that the IS of the bank operates at a certain Stage of Sophistication. The present study proposes a scheme of evolution that details the stages of enhancement in the sophistication of their IS that banking entities may implement, so as to be capable of capturing, mitigating and managing Operational Risk. Using econometric methods, we create a proxy variable to capture the IS Sophistication of each entity. Then, the factor of entity size has been analyzed, and the country effect is explored. Additionally, the importance of intangible assets is weighted, among others entity aspects. The entity size has been revealed as the variable with most influence on the plans formulated in this respect by European entities, against other variables also considered in the present study, such as the country effect or the importance of intangible assets. The work shows how IS decisions referring to Operational Risk management are very influenced by size. It could introduce competition differences in the European banking system. [source]

The Financial Crisis: Causes and Lessons,

JOURNAL OF APPLIED CORPORATE FINANCE, Issue 3 2010
Kenneth E. Scott
The author argues that the root cause of the recent crisis was a housing bubble whose origins can be traced to loose monetary policy and a government housing policy that continually pushed for lower lending standards to increase home ownership. The negative consequences of such policies were amplified when transmitted throughout the financial system by financial institutions through the process of securitization. In attempting to assess culpability for the crisis and identify possible reforms, the author focuses on three categories: 1Defects in Financial Products: Without criticizing derivatives and the process of securitization, the author identifies the sheer complexity of the securities as a major source of the problem,for which the solution is a simpler security design combined with greater disclosure about the underlying assets being securitized. 2Defects in Risk Management: Thanks in large part to agency and other incentive problems, there was universal underestimation of risks by mortgage originators and financial institutions throughout the securitization chain. Changing incentive pay structures is part of the solution, and so are better accounting rules for SPEs. But more effective regulatory oversight and ending "too big to fail" may well be the only way to curb excessive private risk-taking. 3Defects in Government Policy and Regulation: While acknowledging the need for more effective oversight, the author argues that there was ample existing authority for U.S. regulators to have addressed these issues. Lack of power and authority to regulate was not at the heart of the problem,the real problem was lack of foresight and judgment about the unexpected. After expressing doubt that regulators can prevent major financial failures, the author recommends greater attention to devising better methods of resolving such failures when they occur. One of the main goals is to ensure that losses are borne not by taxpayers but by private investors in a way that maintains incentives for market discipline while limiting spillover costs to the entire system. [source]

UNCONVENTIONAL MONETARY POLICIES: AN APPRAISAL

THE MANCHESTER SCHOOL, Issue 2010
CLAUDIO BORIO
This paper sets out a framework for classifying and thinking about unconventional monetary policies, highlighting how they can be viewed within the overall context of monetary policy implementation. The framework clarifies the differences among the various forms of unconventional monetary policy, provides a systematic characterization of the wide range of central bank responses to the recent crisis, helps to underscore the channels of transmission and identifies some of the main policy challenges. In the process, the paper also addresses a number of contentious analytical issues, notably the role of bank reserves and their inflationary consequences. [source]

Framing and Temporality in Political Cartoons: A Critical Analysis of Visual News Discourse,

CANADIAN REVIEW OF SOCIOLOGY/REVUE CANADIENNE DE SOCIOLOGIE, Issue 2 2002
Josh Greenberg
Les caricatures politiques constituent une forme visuelle du discours des médias. Les sociologues rejettent généralement leur valeur idéologique en raison du fait qu'elles offrent aux lecteurs des exposés absurdes des conditions du « problème » putatif et ne doivent pas être prises au pied de la lettre. Toutefois, c'est par l'humour que les caricatures se sont emparées du bon sens et l'ont renfoncé, et par conséquent ont permis au public de classifier, d'organiser et d'inter-préter activement ce qu'ils perçoivent ou vivent relativement à l'actu-alité dans le monde à un moment donné de façon significative. Dans le cadre des théories interactionnistes de Goffman et de Mead, deux caricatures illustrant la dernière « crise » des « vagues d'immigration » déferlant au Canada seront étudiées. Political cartoons are a form of visual news discourse. Sociologists normally dismiss their ideological import on the grounds that cartoons simply offer newsreaders absurd accounts of putative "problem" conditions and are not likely to be taken very seriously. Nevertheless, it is through comedic conventions that cartoons seize upon and reinforce common sense and thus enable the public to actively classify, organize and interpret in meaningful ways what they see or experience about the world at a given moment. Informed by the interactionist theories of Goffman and Mead, two cartoons illustrating the recent "crisis" of "migrant waves" to Canada will be examined. [source]